The latest batch of new Pokémon TCG Pocket cards finally has a concrete release date, but it seems like you won’t be able to trade them right off the bat.

The Pokémon Company announced today that Space-Time Smackdown, Pokémon TCG Pocket’s latest expansion, is set to debut at the end of the month right after the game’s trading feature launches on January 29th. While cards from the last set could all be obtained from a single type of pack, Space-Time Smackdown — which includes a number of monsters from Pokémon Diamond / Pearl / Platinum — will come from packs featuring the legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia.

Along with Space-Time Smackdown’s announcement, TCPi also revealed a bit more about how the trading mechanic will involve two new types of in-game currencies — trade houseglasses and trade tokens. It seems as if there will be cooldown periods as well as a cost if you want to swap cards from Pocket’s Genetic Apex and Mythical Island sets with other players. But there will definitely be some waiting involved for people hoping to trade Space-Time Smackdown, which will not be tradeable until a later date after it drops on January 30th.

Back in 2023, Ashi Dissanayake, cofounder of in-space fueling startup Spacium, was so bootstrapped she used the surface of her clothes dryer as a desk, sticking her legs inside the drying machine. Her computer was perched beside Tide Pods and she was surrounded by disembodied robotic arms, working late into the night with her cofounder, Reza Fetanat. Back then, the pair worked out of a tiny Ottawa apartment. 

Since then, they’ve moved to an office with real desks, gone through Y Combinator, and, today, announced an oversubscribed $6.3 million seed round led by Initialized Capital. The company is planning a demo mission of their product capabilities later this year, and Dissanayake said they have a “strong pipeline of customers.” 

The two cofounders bonded at University of Ottawa over their mutual space obsession and teamed up for research projects. “We were building the rockets, rocket structures, propulsion system, as well as the parachutes that would bring the rocket back,” she said, adding they would put samples in the rockets, shoot them up as high as 30,000 feet, and then send the data back to Canadian labs. 

As they worked on research, Dissanayake and Fetanat realized that “the biggest bottleneck” in the industry was the lack of refueling options in space. Right now, a spacecraft has to be equipped with all the fuel it needs for a mission. “And after the mission ends, the spacecraft basically becomes space debris,” she said.  

For longer missions or deep space missions — like, say, colonizing Mars — companies will need to have access to fuel in space. “Our big mission would be to build the space super highway, where we have multiple refueling stations where a spacecraft can come dock, refill, and go about their way,” she said. 

Spacium is not the only company with this dream: Orbit Fab is also working on in-space refueling, and has a several year head start. Additionally, Japanese aerospace company Astroscale won a $25.5 million U.S. Space Force contract to build a refueling vehicle. 

But Dissanayake feels confident they have a competitive advantage. “We have actually developed a very unique system where we can store the fuel for longer periods of time, which was actually not done before,” she said, declining to give further details. 

Dissanayake has a long way to go, but she hopes one day she can take a trip up to space, look out into the abyss, “and then actually see our stations from where we are.”

• A 410MP sensor smashes previous pixel records for full-frame, and is equivalent to a 24K resolution
• It’s capable of 410MP stills up to 8fps, or 100MP up to 24fps
• It’s designed for surveillance, medicine and industry applications, and unlikely to ever land in a consumer Canon camera

Try this for size – Canon has announced a new 410MP full-frame sensor that smashes any previous records for resolution. It packs 24,592 x 16,704 pixels to be precise, which is roughly equivalent to 24K resolution.

Canon points out in its global announcement that 24K is 12 times the resolution of 8K and 198 times the resolution of HD, and suggests that the unprecedented resolution “enables users to crop any part of the image captured by this sensor and enlarge it significantly while maintaining high resolution”.

Curry and Shah reported their findings to Subaru in late November, and Subaru quickly patched its Starlink security flaws. But the researchers warn that the Subaru web vulnerabilities are just the latest in a long series of similar web-based flaws they and other security researchers working with them have found that have affected well over a dozen carmakers, including Acura, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, Toyota, and many others. There’s little doubt, they say, that similarly serious hackable bugs exist in other auto companies’ web tools that have yet to be discovered.

In Subaru’s case, in particular, they also point out that their discovery hints at how pervasively those with access to Subaru’s portal can track its customers’ movements, a privacy issue that will last far longer than the web vulnerabilities that exposed it. “The thing is, even though this is patched, this functionality is still going to exist for Subaru employees,” Curry says. “It’s just normal functionality that an employee can pull up a year’s worth of your location history.”

When WIRED reached out to Subaru for comment on Curry and Shah’s findings, a spokesperson responded in a statement that “after being notified by independent security researchers, [Subaru] discovered a vulnerability in its Starlink service that could potentially allow a third party to access Starlink accounts. The vulnerability was immediately closed and no customer information was ever accessed without authorization.”

The Subaru spokesperson also confirmed to WIRED that “there are employees at Subaru of America, based on their job relevancy, who can access location data.” The company offered as an example that employees have that access to share a vehicle’s location with first responders in the case when a collision is detected. “All these individuals receive proper training and are required to sign appropriate privacy, security, and NDA agreements as needed,” Subaru’s statement added. “These systems have security monitoring solutions in place which are continually evolving to meet modern cyber threats.”

Responding to Subaru’s example of notifying first responders about a collision, Curry notes that would hardly require a year’s worth of location history. The company didn’t respond to WIRED asking how far back it keeps customers’ location histories and makes them available to employees.

Shah and Curry’s research that led them to the discovery of Subaru’s vulnerabilities began when they found that Curry’s mother’s Starlink app connected to the domain SubaruCS.com, which they realized was an administrative domain for employees. Scouring that site for security flaws, they found that they could reset employees’ passwords simply by guessing their email address, which gave them the ability to take over any employee’s account whose email they could find. The password reset functionality did ask for answers to two security questions, but they found that those answers were checked with code that ran locally in a user’s browser, not on Subaru’s server, allowing the safeguard to be easily bypassed. “There were really multiple systemic failures that led to this,” Shah says.

The two researchers say they found the email address for a Subaru Starlink developer on LinkedIn, took over the employee’s account, and immediately found that they could use that staffer’s access to look up any Subaru owner by last name, zip code, email address, phone number, or license plate to access their Starlink configurations. In seconds, they could then reassign control of the Starlink features of that user’s vehicle, including the ability to remotely unlock the car, honk its horn, start its ignition, or locate it, as shown in the video below.

VC investment into Quantum computing declined by 50% last year according to the ‘State of Quantum 2024’ report, dropping from $2.2bn in 2022 to $1.2bn, with funds switching in favour of Generative AI. However, government spending on quantum was predicted to hit $40 billion over the next decade. Now a new VC European fund hopes to capitalise on that trend. 

The idiosyncratically named QDNL Participations has reached a €25 million first close on a proposed €60m global fund for early-stage quantum startups. 

However, QDNL plans to expand outside the country and make investments more internationally. 

The firm’s previous €15 million fund focused on the Dutch quantum ecosystem, backing startups including Qblox, QuantWare, QphoX, and Q*Bird.

Speaking to TechCrunch, Ton van ‘t Noordende, General Partner at QDNL Participations, said: “Quantum is a global field. There’s been incredible research done in the past decade or so and we’ve seen the emerging of a new, startup ecosystem, with 600 or more companies coming up. There’s also been more than $42 billion invested by over 20 governments in the last two or three years. So this has built up the infrastructure, the clean rooms, the facilities, and essentially de-risking the technology.”

QDNL’s appearance is the latest sign that the Netherlands is making a play to be a key Quantum computing ecosystem, and the government (with EU financial backing) has already backed an entire initiative called Quantum Delta NL, which also just happens to be an investor in QDNL.

Its team includes quantum computing pioneer Chad Rigetti as venture partner in the US and specialist quantum VC Kris Kaczmarek in London, who joined as investment director from quantum VC firm 2xN. They join advisors, Nadia Carlsten (CEO of the Danish Centre for AI Innovation) and Charles Marcus of the University of Washington.

Quantum computing had a tricky start to the year with both Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sounding downbeat on when Quantum would arrive. But Nvidia did a quick about-turn and announced a Quantum exclusive Nvidia Day at its upcoming event in March. 

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 launches on January 28
• It adds loads of new Zombies content, including new map The Tomb
• This is in addition to a new Wonder Weapon, fresh GobbleGums, and more

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2 launches on January 28 and brings a wealth of new content for Multiplayer. Black Ops 6 Zombies is also receiving some love, with plenty of big new additions.

The most significant is a whole new Zombies map, The Tomb. Set after the events of the Citadelle des Morts map, The Tomb sees protagonists Weaver, Maya, Carver, and Grey venture into a mysterious lost catacomb in the ongoing fight against the Dark Aether.

Over the weekend, I went to DC to meet with all of the right-wing influencers and content creators who made President Donald Trump’s 2024 win possible. They were everywhere.

The 2024 election was the influencer election and inauguration was no different: There were dozens of pre- and post-inaugural parties and balls this weekend, as well as the big event itself. Theo Von sat in front of Jake and Logan Paul under the Capitol rotunda (well, until the podcaster’s chair collapsed). Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, and Brett Cooper walked the Turning Point USA red carpet and posed for selfies with fans. Jessic Reed Kraus, writer of the HouseInhabit newsletter, hung out with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the Make America Healthy Again ball Monday night.

In August, I published a guide on the Republican and Democratic influencers shaping the 2024 election. The influencers and content creators still matter, and they will be communicating and guiding policy decisions for years to come.

Welcome to Trump 2.0, where these creators have the ears not only of their audiences but of the president as well. Here are some of the ones to keep an eye on over the next four years.

The Podcasters and Streamers

The 2024 election was the breakout cycle for podcasters in politics. Most of the shows Trump went on catered to the manosphere, a loose network of creators who push misogynistic, racist, and pro-male ideology online. This includes people like Joe Rogan, Andrew Schulz, the Paul brothers, and Adin Ross, who shared their Trump interviews with millions and millions of their fans. There’s a second branch too, made up of creators who have branded themselves as the intellectual wing of the modern Republican party, like Ben Shapiro, Dave Rubin, and Lex Fridman. Fridman’s YouTube podcast reaches millions of viewers every week. Shapiro’s show is one of the most popular ones on Spotify.

These podcasters have amplified Trump and his agenda with very little, if any, pushback. They will likely be key in rallying support for Trump administration decisions.

I spoke briefly with Shapiro on Sunday night, asking what comes next for the GOP and podcasting. “The power continues to grow,” he said. “Legacy media’s completely blown itself out. We’re focused on expanding, not only our brand, but there’s so many other brands that need expansion, I think that it’s gonna be a very rich time for the podcast industry.”

The Meme Pages

DC Draino, the Typical Liberal, RagingAmericans, and Snowflaketears are some of the largest pro-MAGA meme pages on Instagram. Combined, these accounts have over 6 million followers. They act as conduit between GOP leadership priorities and platforms like X and Instagram.

Think of their accounts as news aggregators for people who otherwise may not be consuming it.

The Organizers

While the Democrats worked with influencers over the last election cycle too, no PAC or campaign organized them as effectively and efficiently as the right. Because of Turning Point USA and its leader, Charlie Kirk, many of the GOP’s most popular creators see each other at least a few times a year at the organization’s summits and trainings. According to interviews with some of the right’s top organizers, that infrastructure is only going to grow over the next four years. The organizers themselves have also become influencers to watch.

I wrote about an influencer party (and victory lap) hosted over Inauguration weekend that was put on by CJ Pearson and Raquel Debono. Pearson, a conservative creator with more than 500,000 X followers, cochairs the Republican National Committee’s youth advisory council. He’s played a key role in the party’s adoption of influencers and is planning additional trainings with organizations like the Heritage Foundation.

Visa has joined African fintech Moniepoint as a new investor. The business banking and payments platform confirmed to TechCrunch that it received a “strategic investment” from the global payments giant as both companies look to drive financial inclusion and support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa.

Sources close to the deal say the fintech – which announced a $110 million investment last October, received over $10 million from Visa. The fintech, whose Series C now exceeds $120 million, is reportedly in talks with other investors and may attract more funding in the coming months, all while maintaining its billion-dollar valuation, sources say. Moniepoint declined to comment on the size of Visa’s check or interest from other investors. 

Moniepoint provides businesses and individuals with banking accounts, credit, payments, and other financial tools through an app and a network of agents. The fintech now processes over 1 billion transactions monthly, with total payment volumes reaching $22 billion—a growth of over 25% in under three months. Its rapid rise began during Nigeria’s Central Bank cashless drive in early 2023 and has continued steadily, positioning it as an important player shaping the future of digital payments in the country.

Moniepoint has just a fraction of the total market. Nigeria’s digital payment market spans multiple channels, including electronic transfers, ATMs, POS devices, mobile agents, and web payments. In 2023, businesses and consumers completed transactions worth approximately $400 billion, according to the country’s interbank payments switch. Electronic transfers, powered by the instant payments network NIP—comparable to India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix—dominate the market, accounting for nearly 90% of these transactions, according to data from Stears. Other channels, such as mobile agents, ATMs, and point-of-sale systems, trail far behind.

While Moniepoint operates across most of these channels, Visa’s investment highlights the fintech’s position and potential in Nigeria’s card value chain as both a major issuer and acquirer.

“We’re present in Nigeria today, leading the chart in merchant acquiring and consumer banking,” CEO Tosin Eniolorunda told TechCrunch. “With Visa as our investor, we can strategically collaborate to continue to grow the payment ecosystem and expand to more countries, which is a key goal for us.” 

One way both companies will look to “grow the payment ecosystem” is by introducing contactless payments, Eniolorunda said. “The central bank has indicated the need to drive contactless services to improve accessibility and conduct micro-transactions. So these are some things that we expect from the partnership. It’s progress in the right direction.” 

Nigeria’s Central Bank showed its latest intent to drive contactless payment adoption with draft guidelines for transaction limits in 2023. However, implementation will depend on clearer regulations and resolving issues related to privacy, security, and trust. Once addressed, contactless payments could significantly boost transaction volumes and arguably outpace other payment methods in the country. 

Globally, Visa notes that contactless card usage surpasses mobile wallets in many markets. Moniepoint is in that sweet spot to lead this transition in Nigeria by offering contactless-enabled payment terminals to businesses and chip cards to individuals, setting the stage for further adoption.

On the other hand, Moniepoint will leverage Visa’s Cybersource system to gain better visibility into transactions. Additionally, it plans to integrate with Visa Direct for remittances and money transfers as it looks to expand into markets within and outside Africa. 

• Nvidia has commanding lead over rivals in latest Adobe After Effects benchmarks
• Even lower-performance Nvidia GPUs outpace Intel and AMD cards
• But to Apple’s credit, the M3 Max pulls ahead in 2D significantly despite its laptop form factor

Nvidia‘s GeForce RTX 40-Series GPUs has shown off some significant advantages when it comes to dealing with 3D workflows over comparable Intel and AMD cards, new figures have claimed.

The latest Puget Systems After Effects benchmarks say Nvidia’s flagship GeForce RTX 4090 delivered up to 20 times the performance of Apple’s MacBook Pro M3 Max in 3D tasks; reflecting the card’s technical design focus on GPU-intensive workloads.